Movie Review : Looper, Timothy Green & Horror Movies

movie time! saw the awesome sci-fi time-travelling action movie ‘looper’, the quirky disney drama ‘the odd life of timothy green’ and two horror movies ‘silent house’ and ‘sinister’.

 

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if you think joseph gordon levitt looks weird here, it’s because he underwent hours of make-up to make him look like a possible young bruce willis. he did a really fantastic job – he nailed bruce willis’ expressions and swag perfectly, and even speaks like the man!

the storyline can be confusing so let me simplify – you’re a young hitman. your job is to be at the field at a given time, wait with a gun. suddenly, a man will be sent from the future by the mob, and all you need to do is kill him, and strapped behind that guy are silver bars as your payment.

what if one day, the man you have to kill – is your old self from the future? that’s what happened to the characters bruce willis and joseph gordon-levitt – both playing the same person in future and past. one struggles to escape from his inevitable ending, and another vows to kill his own future self, collects the gold to enjoy life until he turns old and get sent to the past to be killed by his young self – hence the LOOP. looper. with me so far?

I’ve always been a huge fan of the concept of time travelling. one of my favorite movies of all time is michael j fox’s ‘back to the future’. one of my favorite books is h.g. wells’ ‘the time machine’. time travelling is a fascinating subject, albeit non-existent!

so this movie – though at times confusing with so many paradoxes – but therein lies the mind-boggling subject of time-travelling. and I love being able to think about the endless possibilities!

highly-recommended, also for the interesting twist at the end. watch it, if only for you to watch how joseph gordon levitt transforms himself into a very credible young bruce willis!

 

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a young childless couple began writing down the characteristics of their dream-son – big heart, musical, gold-medalist, honest – put them in a box and bury it in their garden. that night it rained, and in came an adorable young boy into their home, all covered in dirt – timothy green, and he calls them mom and dad. and he has leaves on his leg.

that’s ‘the odd life of timothy green’.

the boy who played timothy green is just too adorable. so cute, and so charming. however, I don’t think his character was really developed as he tried to change the lives of the people around him. there is just not enough emotions for me to feel that this is possible – that this boy’s character is so enchanting that he can affect the people around him.

I wanted more from this movie in terms of the boy’s impact on the other casts, but just the thought of how incredibly grateful the childless couple was to have this boy coming to them from nowhere – brought me to tears. I thank Allah for bestowing me with three beautiful boys that I never even knew how it felt like to terribly wanting to be a mother, and not getting that chance.

there, just a simple quirky movie, but it works for me that way. a heartwarming movie for a family-time on a lazy weekend…

 

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I don’t usually fancy movies with moving camera with amaturish shots as if taken with a home-video camera – like in the movie dinosaur project or the blair witch. but this movie is a must-see. the whole movie is meant to be captured in just ONE take over a period of 88 minutes – which means it looks as if there’s no cut, and the movie just go on and on without any editing. we are taken THERE with her. in real time. alone. in the silence. in the dark.

the girl was there at their new home with her dad, they heard a noise upstairs, checked it out – and suddenly the girl found her dad injured by someone, or something in the house. the house windows were all barred, doors locked – so there’s no way out. now she must try to escape from that something…what is in that house with her?

you’d think that it’s just another horror movie, but the way the movie goes on really does build the suspense as you follow her character through the house in the dark. the ending is also SO worth the watch!

it’s amazing to think that the lead actress in this scary movie is the sister of the talent-less olsen twins! elizabeth olsen will be one of the new faces of hollywood a-list, I’m sure! she played the character strong and intense; we can feel her fear and confusion as she tried to escape the horrifying condition she’s in. she doesn’t even have to say much!

wanna scare yourself silly? enjoy the movie in the dark of night, crouching under the blanket…

 

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don’t watch the trailer if you were planning to watch the movie. why? because most of the good scary parts are already shown in the trailer, and if you don’t watch the trailer, the shock and fear will be more amazing! haha.

like mr khairul and I were jumping off our seats when we saw that one scene that defines the horror in this movie – scary gile because it was totally unexpected. for a horror movie, there are not that many shocking scary scenes in ‘sinister’ like in a korean horror movie, so you better not give yourself any spoilers.

the plot : a crime-book writer wants to write about the murder of a family – and to write the book effectively, he actually moved into the house where the murder took place! sick! anyways, he found a box of films in the attic, he watched it, and found out that they were home videos of how a few families were killed sadistically in different ways.

and in each family, one child was not murdered – but had just gone missing. what happened to that one child, and where is he/she? and in each video, an image appears…and once you see him…jeng jeng jeng…

nice plot, interesting twist, interesting ending. I just wished that the suspense build-up is made better so that the viewers become more anxious to know what the mystery is. it’s good, but could be more intense.

I can say it does NOT have a predictable ending (because my prediction of the ending was wrong haha), so it’s a good scary watch for fans of horror movies. also, I miss ethan hawke! ah, he hasn’t aged at all! welcome back, dude!

 

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next set of movie reviews : international films, or malay films!